The present invention relates generally to cooking appliances and, more particularly, to apparatus for releasably retaining cooking griddles such as waffle grids in cooking appliances.
Many cooking appliances, such as waffle bakers, sandwich grills and the like, typically provide heated griddles or grids for cooking foods such as waffles, grilled sandwiches, hamburgers and other foods. In commercial operations, these appliances require frequent cleaning of the cooking surfaces to ensure that crumbs and other cooking residues do not accumulate on the cooking surfaces and thereby detract from the appearance and quality of food subsequently cooked with the appliance. This is especially a problem in waffle bakers where the griddles take the form of waffle grids having surface depressions in which baked-on residues tend to accumulate.
Previously, however, waffle grids have been retained in waffle bakers by screws, metal clips or similar means, making removal of the grids from the waffle baker difficult and discouraging regular cleaning of the grids. Moreover, screws may become frozen and clips may fracture due to the heat stress associated with the high temperatures at which such appliances are operated. The natural tendency, therefore, is to attempt to clean the grids without removing them from the applicance, but this practice can prove to be hazardous if water or cleaning solution spills from the waffle grid and leaks into the appliance causing an electrical short circuit. Also, if the waffle grids are of the type having a non-stick coating on the cooking surface, it may be necessary to replace the grids after extended usage, and replacement may be postponed due to the aforementioned difficulties. In certain instances, it may also be desirable to replace the waffle grids with flat griddles suitable for toasting sandwiches or the like.
One attempt to provide an alternative means for releasably securing griddles such as waffle grids in a cooking appliance has been shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,102,879, issued to B. A. Benson, wherein a latch arm pivotably engaging one side of the appliance casing and extending transversely below the grid is swung horizontally across the bottom of the grid to slidably engage a sheet metal hook welded to the bottom of the grid. In an alternative embodiment shown therein, the hook is cast with the grid. Spot welds such as that utilized in the first embodiment, however, suffer from the disadvantage of being subject to fracture from heat stress, and the particular configuration shown in the second embodiment complicates the casting of the waffle grid.
Accordingly, there still remains a need to provide a quick-release griddle retaining apparatus for cooking appliances such as waffle bakers or the like.